How to get MSN, Yahoo & Google Talk contacts in iChat

[Steeley]

This has probably been posted before, but I haven't seen it; I think it's worthwhile putting the guide up again anyway for fresh eyes.

Anyone that uses a mac knows that microsoft messenger is a wretched program that is technologically and visuall equivalent to about messenger 6.0 on the PC. So I went about searching for how I could add all my contacts to iChat, which fits in nicely with the OSX gui. Here's what I found:-

1. Sign up for Google Talk. If you already have a gmail address then it's already considered a Google Talk account.

2. Download Psi from here.

3. Launch Psi

4. Cancel out of the account creation screen that opens automatically the first time you open Psi. Instead go to "General" > "Account Setup" in the menu bar.

5. Click Add.

6. Enter Google Talk for the name and click Add.

7. Enter your Google Talk id for Jabber ID and your password (ex. [email protected])

8. Click on the Connection Tab.

9. Use the Encrypt Connection dropdown box to choose Legacy SSL.

10. Make sure Probe Legacy SSL is checked.

11. Allow plaintext authentication "over encrypted connection".

12. Set server host to talk.google.com and port 5223

13. Click save

14. Login to Google Talk?s jabber server by selecting Google Talk and selecting Status -> Online

15. Select Psi -> Preferences and select Events

16. Check Ignore Events from contacts not in roster and Auto-authorize contacts

17. Deselect Notify when auth received and then click OK

18. Close the preferences window.

19. In the menu bar select General -> Service Discovery

20. Enter jabber.anywise.com in address and click browse

21. Select MSN or Yahoo gateway, depending on which one you want. You can only do one at a time, so jump back to this step if you want to add both, or another client like AIM.

Right click and select Register

22. Enter your MSN or Yahoo credentials

23. You will see all your other contacts get added to your buddy list. This can take a few minutes to complete.

24. Quit Psi

25. Launch iChat

26. If you're running iChat for the first time and it comes up with an account creation window, go to step 28. Otherwise choose iChat -> Preferences and select Accounts pane.

27. Click (+) to add a new account

28. Select Account Type of Jabber

29. Enter your Google Talk ID and password (ex. [email protected])

30. Enter talk.google.com for server

31. Enable SSL and allow self-signed certificates. Also verify port 5223 is used

32. Close preferences

33. Choose Window -> Jabber

34. Set status to Online and you will see your full buddy list

From here you just rename your contacts to nicknames or whatever you like.

Article Source (amended by me here).

[sn00pie]

Are you using this yourself? I'm interested in giving it a try if someone on here can verify that it actually works for MSN. :D

[Steeley]

Are you using this yourself? I'm interested in giving it a try if someone on here can verify that it actually works for MSN. :D

I sure am. I'm primarily using it for my msn contacts, but I do have one google talk contact as well. The cool thing is that because that google talk contact is also an msn contact of mine, ichat just lists him once and I see him online/away/offline and it treats the two accounts as one.

iChat has tabbed chat windows too which is a cool feature.

[.Neo]

What downsides are there when using this compared to Messenger for Mac?

[Steeley]

What downsides are there when using this compared to Messenger for Mac?

Very few, but these are the things I consider the downsides:-

1. To add a contact, with msn for example, you can't simply use their hotmail address. The format is email%[email protected]

2. When you first add contacts it shows their email addresses only. You have to open each contact and add their first name, last name and nicknames.

3. Rather than say "Buddy List" at the top of the iChat screen it says "Jabber List". No biggie but I'd rather it didn't say it.

I can't find any other downsides the way I use it! It looks better than MSN, it has video (but I don't have a webcam so I can't confirm if it works with PC msn users) and you can modify sounds etc. For me, just having the tabbed chats is enough to switch to it.

[thefarewellnote]

One problem I have is that my contacts on MSN are constantly going back and forth from away to available. Its annoying.

I also found that most of the jabber servers I used would drop connections a lot.

[.Neo]

What about avatars, file transfer etc.?

[PL_ Veteran]

What about avatars, file transfer etc.?

I'm curious about this too. It sounds like a good solution.

[Remote Sojourner]

I think Adium is a better solution since it looks better and supports more MSN features than a Jabber gateway would i.e. Avatars, file transfers, status messages, nicknames,etc.

Also ichat wont support video for jabber contacts.

[allannyholm]

In response to .Neo and PureLegend; No Filetransfer and almost never any avatars for MSN buddies. When I used a solution similar to this with Openfire I had all my MSN contacts in the OS X Address Book and just added their Jabber address in there, then I could set buddy pictures for my buddies. Most of my contacts already had their pictures snatched with Adium. But filetransfer with a MSN transport is not something I have succeeded with in my many attempts to use MSN inside iChat.

[sundayx Veteran]

Can't you just use Adium?

[joker999]

Can't you just use Adium?

If they dont want download Adium, addon or whatever.

His choice :)

[.Neo]

Can't you just use Adium?

I have a Mac Pro running Mac OS X v10.5.8, so yeah obviously I could.

However, I've always thought that Adium was both overrated and overhyped. Network wise it doesn't really offer anything over Messenger for Mac, in fact in some cases it's worse. And while Messenger might not be the prettiest Mac OS X application out there it still looks decent out of the box. In order to get to that same point with Adium I have to make my way around its preferences, skin packs, icon packs, sound packs, IM styles, contact window styles, emoticons and whatever else I have to install and tweak. Not to mention the fact its menus and preference windows are more crowded than the average slum you see on on Discovery.

Come to think of it Adium is probably one of the worst and most user-unfriendly Mac OS X applications I ever installed on my Mac.

[sn00pie]

Yeah I agree. MSN Messenger for Mac is better than Adium out of the box. I have never gotten Adium to the point where I am satisfied with the way it looks.

[Fusion]

Using extrenal Jabber servers, including Google's has always prooved to be an unreliable and cumbersome strategy. Setting up Openfire for this is much cleaner and more reliable.

[PL_ Veteran]

However, I've always thought that Adium was both overrated and overhyped. Network wise it doesn't really offer anything over Messenger for Mac, in fact in some cases it's worse.

Offline messaging and nudges.

[.Neo]

Offline messaging never really worked for me using Adium. Haven't tried the nudges.

[AltecXP]

the MSN is not showing a Register option for me

[Steeley]

the MSN is not showing a Register option for me

Instead of anywise use jabber.bluendo.com

[team_NOOB]

Yeah I agree. MSN Messenger for Mac is better than Adium out of the box. I have never gotten Adium to the point where I am satisfied with the way it looks.

Really? Adium is one, if not the most customisable messengers for mac out there..

So you would rather use:

Mac Messenger

As opposed to Adium (currently what mine looks like - its translucent)

:huh:

[.Neo]

Did you read his post? "MSN Messenger for Mac is better than Adium out of the box." What you're showing isn't what Adium looks like out of the box. Next to that looking at your screen shot I'd actually prefer Messenger for Mac.

[Arkanius]

Did you read his post? "MSN Messenger for Mac is better than Adium out of the box." What you're showing isn't what Adium looks like out of the box. Next to that looking at your screen shot I'd actually prefer Messenger for Mac.

Say... doing this, is it possible to add only certain MSN contacts instead of importing my whole list?

[PyX]

So, nobody tested :

- The speed of file transfers?

- An audio conference?

- A video conference?

Also, which of these MSN features does it offer :

- Nudges? (I'm guessing a no)

- Receive custom emoticons?

- Send custom emoticons? (I'm guessing a no)

- Handwriting (I'm guessing a no)

- Custom statuses? (I'm guessing a no)